Michael Gray

Michael Gray was born in Chicago, Illinois, on September 2, 1951. He moved to Florida as a young boy and grew up in Miami Beach. His father opposed the idea, telling him he needed something to fall back on, but Gray decided to try anyway and headed to California.

Gray studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California, one of the best-known acting schools of its era. His work began almost immediately after he arrived in Los Angeles, and he later said he was very successful for his first ten years in the business.

Gray made his screen debut in a 1969 episode of Room 222 and followed it with guest roles in The Flying Nun and Marcus Welby, M.D. In 1970 he played Burt Reynolds' younger brother in the ABC television movie Run, Simon, Run, and appeared in the films Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Myra Breckinridge.

In 1972 he landed his first series, playing Ronnie Collins in the first season of NBC's The Little People (later The Brian Keith Show), with Brian Keith and Shelley Fabares, filmed on Oahu. That year he also appeared in the unsold pilot Bobby Jo and the Good Time Band and on American Bandstand. Managed by Tiger Beat publisher Charles Laufer, he stayed in the teen magazines while taking roles such as Jeff, Marcia's boyfriend, in the 1973 Brady Bunch episode "Marcia Gets Creamed," a voice guest spot in Goober and the Ghost Chasers, and Buzzy Knight in the 1974 film Our Time.

His defining role came with Filmation's live-action series Shazam!, which premiered on CBS on September 7, 1974. As Billy Batson, he travelled the country in a motorhome with Mentor (Les Tremayne) and turned into Captain Marvel (Jackson Bostwick, later John Davey) with the magic word. The series ran 28 episodes over three seasons until October 16, 1976, and from 1975 to 1977 formed half of The Shazam!/Isis Hour with The Secrets of Isis. He also appeared on Dinah! in 1975 and later guest-starred on Dynasty.

Typecasting followed, and Gray eventually left acting for children's theatre education, men's fashion retail and a florist business. He appeared in VH1's Where Are They Now? in 1999, and after Warner Bros. released Shazam! on DVD in 2012 he returned to the spotlight. He voiced "TV's Michael Gray" in four episodes of Archer (2015 to 2019), played Will E. Bee in Surge of Power: Revenge of the Sequel (2016) and Surge of Dawn (2019), appeared on Comic Book Men (2018), voiced Thompson in Heroes of Extinction (2022) and made a cameo in Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023).

Gray married Stacy Benon in 1994. Together they owned and operated a popular florist shop in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, which closed in the mid 2000s. He became stepfather to her children, Ryan Cooper and Laurel Cooper. In a 2012 interview he said he had moved north at one point to work in theatre education for children, and that he later worked at one of the best men's clothing stores in the country. He died in Palm Desert, California.

Gray was proud of the values Shazam! carried. He said that years after it ended he discovered how much the show and his character had influenced people's lives, and that people still loved it because "there are family values and it has a plot." He was candid about the downside of teen idol fame, describing it as partly manufactured and at times frightening, and about how typecasting ended his first career. When his son wanted to act and do voice-overs, he admitted he was against it to some degree, remembering his own battle with his parents over the same choice.

As Billy Batson, Gray was the first actor to play the boy behind Captain Marvel (now known as Shazam) in a live-action television series, and Shazam! was, as Gray noted, one of the first few live-action shows on Saturday morning television. For a generation of children in the 1970s it was a formative superhero show. Its revival on DVD in 2012 and in a restored Blu-ray edition in 2019 introduced it to new audiences, and Gray's cameo in Shazam! Fury of the Gods tied the original series to the modern DC films. Archer's running gag about "TV's Michael Gray" made him a cult figure for a new generation, and co-stars and fans alike remembered his kindness and constant smile.

No major industry awards for Gray have been reported. His recognition came from audiences: frequent Tiger Beat covers in the 1970s, a 2012 Warner Bros. panel attended by about 700 people that he said almost brought tears to his eyes, and years as a featured guest at fan conventions across the United States.

Gray's image as Billy Batson, in a red T-shirt beside the Shazam! motorhome, is a staple of 1970s Saturday morning nostalgia. The FX animated series Archer turned him into a recurring joke, with Sterling Archer idolising "TV's Michael Gray" and Gray voicing himself in the episodes "Drastic Voyage" (2015) and two 1999-season episodes (2019). He was featured on AMC's Comic Book Men in the 2018 episode "The Mightiest of Mortals," and his walk-on in Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) was a deliberate wink to the original series. He appeared on many convention panels and fan interviews, several of which are preserved on YouTube.

Michael Gray died of natural causes on Friday, October 16, 2026, in Palm Desert, California, at the age of 75. His representative confirmed the death to Deadline, and a family spokesperson announced it on October 22, 2026. The date fell exactly 50 years after the last original broadcast of Shazam! on October 16, 1976. Funeral and burial arrangements have not been made public. He was survived by his wife, Stacy Benon Gray, stepchildren Ryan Cooper and Laurel Cooper, and son-in-law Lee Barker.